Beasty (A Royal's Tale Book 2)

by Jennise K

  “And…it was never…your fault…Olli…”

  The person who just talked with a raspy voice coughed as he said my name, and I gasped, turning toward the man. I knew that voice.

  New stream of tears flowed on my face. I couldn’t stop myself from letting out a loud sob as I flew out of Romanov and into Jaydin’s arms. He was still lying on the floor, but…he’s alive!

  Grasping onto him, I let it all out—all the fear, the guilt, the anger. I cried as I held onto him—for him…and Mum, Dad, Elizabeth, Garret.

  I loved Jaydin. He was like a brother to me. He might have his eyes set on Abigail, but I knew he cared for everyone. After everyone else, I couldn’t lose him, too. I couldn’t.

  “Don’t you ever dare do that again!” I choked out as I held him tightly. His arms came around me weakly as he took me into his embrace, too.

  “Where—” Jaydin stopped and inhaled a deep breath; talking seemed to take a great effort for him to do “—is…my baby?”

  Then he froze. Moving back lightly, I felt his arm tighten around me. “And what…was that?”

  “Berlin’s Alpha, the royal be—Jay.”

  Smiling against my thundering heart and streaming tears, I moved aside just in time for Abigail to leap into Jaydin’s arms. She hugged him tightly and hid her face into his bloody chest.

  “Don’t you dare do that again!” Abigail growled against Jay, fisting his torn shirt as she sobbed against him.

  Jaydin’s tired, amused eyes found mine, and he let out a small chuckle. “Did you two practice this line when I passed out?”

  I couldn’t do it.

  I closed my eyes and looked away. Jaydin thought he had passed out. Jaydin didn’t know. Jaydin was not human anymore, and I couldn’t lie to his face.

  “Jay!” Dominic marched into the kitchen and rushed towards Jaydin. Lyam and Grayson were right behind him. He stopped short when Abigail let out a low growl, warning him to stay away.

  I looked away again, feeling like I was witnessing something very private.

  “Abigail, can you and Dominic please take Jaydin upstairs?” Romanov’s deep authoritative voice rang in the silence. Immediately, both Dominic and Abigail stood. Dominic leaned down to pick Jaydin up as he visibly strained to keep his emotions in check. I blinked as I saw the first glimpse of Dominic’s beast.

  He was a royal.

  Jaydin’s eyes found mine as he was carried away, and he sent a tired smile my way. I nodded at him warmly, smiling as I felt another string of tears slip down my cheek.

  “Hey…did that thing bite me?” Jaydin asked, his voice now fading as he was led further to his room. I closed my eyes shut and just sat on the floor, my head bowed down in deep thought. Edika had killed Jay.

  Edika was a threat. Everywhere. And Jaydin wasn’t human anymore.

  A warm fabric suddenly touched my cheek, and I gasped, jumping a little as I turned towards a half-naked Romanov. He held his large, long-sleeved maroon sweater in his hands and offered it to me.

  Behind him, Alpha Lyam stood watching me, his head tilted slightly to the side. He seemed like he was seeing me for the first time and was studying me, trying to figure me out. A silent, stoic Grayson also stood beside him, his eyes moving around, inspecting the place—anywhere but on me.

  I sighed as I snapped my eyes closed again. That’s right. I was just in a pair of knickers and tank top.

  Reaching for the sweater, I hurriedly pulled it on, my eyes only on Romanov who has turned quiet and brooding at the moment.

  Suddenly, Grayson began to move upstairs and disappeared. I watched him go, glad I had an excuse not to look at Alpha Lyam.

  “Jaydin will have his first shift in the next ten hours,” Romanov spoke out loud as he extended his hand to me. I knew he was talking to Alpha Lyam, but I quietly listened, too. Grabbing his hand and standing up, I moved into his arms when he pulled me close, completely enveloping and covering me.

  “But don’t normal-turned-wolves have their first shifts on the second day from when they were turned?”

  “My venom…works faster,” Romanov replied quietly, refusing to give out any more detail. Alpha Lyam looked curious, but I sighed in relief when he didn’t press it.

  Romanov turned to Lyam. “I require your input on him being allowed to stay here on your territory as a rogue until he completes his education. He belongs to my cousin’s pack.”

  Alpha Lyam let out a chuckle, and I cringed, finding his chuckle cold.

  “You’re the king, Your Majesty. You do not need my permission.”

  “I don’t. But it was not your permission I wanted, Lyam. I wanted your input.” Romanov chuckled back at him, his grip on me tightening by the minute.

  “Luna.” Grayson suddenly appeared holding a thick blanket.

  My head turned towards him, and for the first time, I was pleased to see him. I smiled at Grayson with my whole heart, taking the blanket from him gratefully.

  “Thank you, Gray. I appreciate it.”

  Romanov took the blanket from my hands and shook it open, wrapping me with it quickly. He sent an appreciative smile towards Grayson.

  “I have no issues with Jaydin staying in the territory as long as he doesn’t cause trouble.” Alpha Lyam shrugged, and Romanov nodded.

  “Alright. I apologise for calling you here so late at night. I’ll see you in the office then, Lyam.”

  Alpha Lyam nodded, his eyes finding mine. He tilted his head to the side again. I gulped. “You have a bruise forming on your jaw. You better put some ice on it.”

  Then turning around, the man left.

  “Weirdo.” Grayson rolled his eyes as he visibly eased up.

  Romanov, on the other hand, had other plans. Leaning forward, he suddenly wrapped his hands around my legs and waist and scooped me up in a quick whoosh. I gasped as his fingers pressed against a sore part of my thigh.

  “Grayson, can you please make sure the house is bolted properly? I’ll just take the queen to the living room upstairs.”

  “Right.” Grayson nodded as he turned around and began making his way in the direction Alpha Lyam went a few minutes ago.

  “I am so angry at you right now,” Romanov hissed as he took me up the stairs. I sighed. Yes, it was pretty obvious he was angry.

  All of a sudden, a loud heart-wrenching scream ripped through the heavy air in the old manor, and I jolted up in Romanov’s arms.

  “Jay!” I gasped as I tried to move out of Romanov’s hold and make my way towards him. Romanov only tightened his grip on me. There was a pained expression on his face while he continued walking in the opposite direction.

  “He’s shifting.”

  I stuttered. “Bu—but—you said—how is that possible?”

  “My bite is…more potent.”

  “Bu—but—how?”

  Romanov let out a sigh, his muscles tightening against me as he climbed the last stair. Strangely, he was taking his time.

  “There is a group of kings…who are different. We are more—more.”

  I frowned, still not catching up. I looked up at him. “How?”

  Romanov shrugged and sighed. “We’re born this way.”

  I blinked. It didn’t help that only recently I had found out that there were wolves, or lycans in this world, but now there were advanced lycans, too? I shook my head, focusing on the man carrying me.

  “How many of you are there?”

  “Eight. My cousin Alexander rules over most of UK and America. Antoneiv is the Russian king. Alastair rules the Scots, and Michael, the Samoan king. There’s also Yuv, the Indian king; Derek, the Canadian king; Ashton, the Australian king, and I—your very angry mate—so stop asking questions.”

  My eyes narrowed at the dark expression on his face before I turned away, my lips pouting childishly. “At least tell me if Jaydin will be okay.”

  “He will be fine—after the shift.”

  I blinked. My breath hitching in my throat, I tried to avoid the guilty tears. Ev
erything that Jaydin was going through was my fault. Meanwhile, Edika was still out there and roamed freely everywhere. My mind snapped to Letty and Prue, and I froze. Keeping Letty in front of my eyes was a good thing after all.

  I shook my head again, shaking all the bad thoughts away for the moment. I needed a break. Jaydin was alive. He was going to be fine.

  Taking in a slow steady breath of air, I let my head rest against Romanov’s hard chest.

  “I’m so afraid, Rome,” I whispered against his chest, feeling his arms around me tightening as he moved to settle us on a large, wide sofa in the middle of the room.

  My legs wrapped around him.

  “We will get through this, Olivia. There must be a way to destroy her.”

  I sighed, shaking my head against him and gripping the large swell of his biceps. “Rome…”

  “We’ll find a way,” Romanov said, suddenly sounding very confident. “We’ll find it, Olivia,” he repeated, reassuring me.

  I closed my eyes and gave in, humming against Romanov, the thirst that had led to all this—damn it! —now completely forgotten. “Okay.”

  Romanov’s hand tightened around me. “Okay.”

  ~

  I stared at the email beckoning at me from the screen on my iPhone. The issue was urgent. Pompy had suddenly fallen drastically sick, and I was now needed to fly back to London as soon as possible.

  My gaze darted to the man sitting a few steps away from me, in his very lavish company office in the city, and then back to my phone screen.

  It had taken us a while to get settled after the attack last night, but slowly, I finally gave myself in to the exhaustion, falling asleep in Romanov’s arms. Waking up, I had found myself back in the castle with Romanov settled on his side of the bed with a laptop.

  A knock on the closed office door rapped sharply against the glass, and my eyes snapped to the stylish looking doorknob turning, but the door was never pushed open. The person outside the door seemed pretty aggressive, but I didn’t mind, breathing out a thankful breath of relief at the distraction.

  I watched as Romanov’s eyes moved up towards the door lazily, his eyes at the closed door for a second or two before he cleared his throat and spoke, “Come in.”

  My gaze still on the door, patiently waiting for the distraction to walk in. I breathed as the golden brass knob turned again, and this time, the door swung open. A beautiful woman strode into the room, her light brown hair styled up into a half up–half down do, a thick file in her folded hands stacked in front of her. My eyes swept down from her yellow chiffon top to her knee-length skirt and to her complementing yellow heels as she kept on walking towards Romanov, her eyes only on him.

  “Romanov, it’s good to find you back in the office after a week’s break. The tender has been approved, and the contract is ready to be processed. My company is ready to be shared with you.” She smiled at Romanov as she stood behind a chair, reaching forward a little to place the file in front of him.

  Romanov’s eyes stayed on hers, and I fidgeted. This woman was definitely interested in him.

  “Thank you, Spencer,” Romanov said, his eyebrow tilting up as he eased back into his chair. “Is there something else you made a trip to my office for?”

  The woman let out a giggle, and my fingers began fidgeting with the bend of my MacBook placed on my lap.

  “Yes! I’m throwing a party for this at my mansion. I mean, we are becoming partners! And I was hoping you’d be there?”

  The corners of Romanov’s lips tilted up into a one-sided smile, which subtly looked like a smirk, and my fingers gripped to my laptop. My eyes snapped to the screen, frowning as I stared at it. I didn’t want to look anymore.

  I didn’t know why I was becoming so bothered, but I had the sudden urge to blurt out, “Hello, I’m Olivia, and I own Romanov’s arse,” but I obviously couldn’t do that, seeing as this is important to Romanov. So I let out a steady breath and began typing again.

  “Thank you for the invitation, Spencer. I will try to make it,” he replied tersely.

  It was a dismissal. The tone in Romanov’s voice spoke it out loud: goodbye. We were silent, and I almost killed myself just barely keeping myself from glancing at the woman. The urge to tell her Romanov was mine was growing stronger. But I couldn’t do that; I could not be mean to her; I couldn’t embarrass Romanov like that.

  She began to move away as indicated by the sound of her heels clicking against the floor, and I felt myself ease. I now went back to happily typing, tapping the keys in a merry tune, but my fingers hung in the air when the sound of clicking heels suddenly stopped. Curious, I finally looked up, my eyes locking straight with Spencer’s surprised ones.

  “Oh, I didn’t see you there!” Spencer appraised me with barely concealed disgust and gave me a shaken smile before she turned towards Romanov who was nondescript with observing our exchange albeit calmly. “I’m sorry. Who is this?”

  Spencer turned towards me again, not waiting for Romanov’s answer, and her smiled brightened like she had just finally pieced a jigsaw puzzle together. “You must come to the party as well. Bring your boyfriend too! I’m sure you’d have fun at a high-end party! Have you ever been to one? Being Romanov’s secretary mustn’t be a very easy job, must it?”

  I knew my mouth was slightly open—my jaw was well on its way to the floor—but I continued to stare at the woman in front of me. I wasn’t even angry; I was just shocked at her confident assumption.

  “I’m sorry.” I blinked, my gaze turning towards Romanov, who now slowly smirked, his eyes on mine. “I think you have it wrong.” Romanov’s smile warmed as my gaze found his, and he nodded. I turned towards Spencer, who now looked confused. “I’m not Rome’s secretary.”

  Spencer let out a nervous laugh and shook her head, but I could see she was curious. “Than what are you to him?”

  Everything you’ll never be, gurl!

  I bit back my smile, patting my Jiminy on her back as I looked up at Spencer. She was a very successful businessperson, and I was sure that deep down, she was a good person, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t not claim Romanov.

  I just had to.

  “I’m his girlfriend. It’s nice to meet you!” I smiled at the woman, my smile brightening as hers faded.

  I cringed on the inside as I felt guilty about it. I just couldn’t help it.

  The shocked woman looked at Romanov for a second before she looked back at me and suddenly laughed, her eyes running over my casual black t-shirt tucked in an ankle-length skirt.

  Spencer leaned in, and my breath caught as she whispered the next sentence. “Sure you are! How much extra is he paying you to sit here and prank people like this?”

  My eyes widened, and I blinked dumbly. I couldn’t think how hard it was for someone to believe that such a powerful businessman, or an alpha king for that matter—whichever world they knew him from—could want me? Was that what Alpha Lyam was thinking about, too? My mind ran over how I was looking right now. I almost regretted thinking it was fine to not dress up in front of people Romanov worked with—to at least dress up and look a little decent.

  Now that it was clear that people were not impressed. I couldn’t help but cringe at my decision.

  This wasn’t the same as being with my father. Those employees were people I grew up with. They could accept me. In comparison, these people didn’t know me. All they see was just my face and my clothing—nothing more beyond that. It was sad now that I thought about it. Most people, no matter what, only saw the surface.

  “Actually, Spencer, she is my girlfriend. In fact, I’d say she very well owns my…arse.” Romanov’s voice cut through my haze, and my eyes refocused on Spencer just in time to see her jaw dropping, her hands clenched tight beside her.

  My head turned towards a smirking Romanov. He had just spoken the very sentence I had been thinking on repeat. My eyes widened, and I instantly looked away.

  No…No. He couldn’t.

  “Oh…well, you
must accompany him to the party then! I’m sure you’ll…” she stopped, trying her hardest to recover herself all the while feeling visibly awkward. “You’ll like it. Yes. I’ll be off now! See you later, Romanov.” Spencer turned towards Romanov and gave him a saucy smile before finally letting herself out. My eyes narrowed at her at their own accord, and I turned away again, trying to control this newfound possessiveness in me.

  “Sorry about that.”

  My gaze moved towards Romanov, and I cocked an eyebrow up. “How did you know?”

  Romanov’s eyebrows moved up in surprise, and he looked at me curiously. “Know what?”

  “Arse?”

  A naughty smile lit up on Romanov’s face, and I almost shot myself, regretting even bringing it up. Getting up from his seat, he began to lazily make his way towards the bed, sinking down beside me when he finally reached me.

  “I get a little piece of heaven you have—” he tapped my temple with his finger gently “—there, every once in a while.”

  “Hmm. Must be convenient.”

  Romanov smirked. “Every once on a while.”

  I decided to get back on more important matters.

  “You’re sure Jay’s okay, right?” I mumbled out lowly, keeping my eyes peeled on Romanov’s long-sleeved shirt, which perfectly hugged his well-defined body.

  “He’s fine. Healing. He’s okay.”

  I sighed, nodding. I bit my lip, still not sure how to tell him about the situation back at home. Looking up, I watched Romanov’s jawline tighten.

  “Rome, I have to go—home—my home. In London. ASAP.”

  ~

  “Why didn’t he come with you?”

  With a soft smile on my lips, I turned towards my best friend, wrapping my arm around her as we sat in the back of my car.

  “He just didn’t. Forget about that, though. How are you?”

  Isabelle sighed, a slow, soft smile appearing on her lips. “I’m fine. I’m starting to love myself—for the first time. I feel good, Livia. For the first time, I’ve started to realise that maybe I don’t need someone to love me to be happy. I can love myself.”